American Eating Habits Have Changed--Not Necessarily for the Better : Consumption of Calories, Snack Foods and Supplements Rises
A recent food consumption study released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture reveals that Americans’ consumption of meat has decreased since 1977, whereas soft drink and snack consumption has skyrocketed. People are not only eating more calories but also taking vitamin supplements. And if you are guessing that family mealtime is fast becoming a thing of the past, you are correct.
The telling results of the 1985 National Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals were reported at a recent food writers conference by Suzanne S. Harris, deputy assistant secretary for food and consumer services for the USDA.
Recall Diet
The survey statistics were gathered from 19- to 50-year-old females and males and children 1 to 5 years old, who were asked to recall the previous day’s diet every six months since 1977, when a similar survey was performed.
The data collected both in a 1977 survey and the recently released version included descriptions of food and beverage eaten, the quantity eaten, the source of the food, the occasion of eating and time of day.
The survey addresses only the question of what was eaten, not why it was eaten. “We can only speculate at the point,” Harris said. “Generally, food consumption behavior is changing faster than ever before since diets were first monitored through national surveys in the mid-1930s. Many factors contribute to these changes, but the concern about nutrition appears to be an important one.” Harris thinks that efforts of major health organizations, including the U.S. health organizations that released Dietary Guidelines between the surveys, as well as the American Heart Assn., among others, have dramatically helped shape the health consciousness of Americans in the last 10 years. These concerns are reflected in the results of the survey. Also reflected in the survey are contradictory evidences of health neglect and overeating.
As for home eating patterns, they are changing, too, with less and less family dining being done at home. The 1985 survey found that 57% of women obtained and ate some food away from home on each day surveyed, up from 45% in 1977. Young children ate out more in 1985, too. However, the survey shows that the nutrient intake of outside eating was not adversely affected. In fact, the food eaten away from home was similar, nutritionally, to the food eaten at home.
Near the Bottom
Here are the results of the surveys on what Americans are eating relative to the Dietary Guidelines published jointly in 1985 by the USDA and Health and Human Services Department. The guidelines call for all Americans to eat a variety of foods, to avoid too much fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sugar and salt and to eat foods with adequate starch and fiber. They also call for moderating alcohol consumption.
Calorie intakes reported by women in the survey were near the bottom of the range of calorie intakes suggested by the Recommended Dietary Allowances in 1980, but it contradicts the rising incidences of obesity among American women.
“This low level is hard to reconcile with the prevalence of overweight women observed in other studies. We think the women in the survey may not have reported all they ate and drank, especially of alcoholic beverages,” Harris said.
The variety of foods selected in 1985, especially by women, did not provide recommended amounts of several nutrients. Although diets were no worse than in 1977, little improvement was noticed, with the possible exception of calcium.
High Calorie Intake
Compared with 1977, intakes in 1985 for both women and children were as high or higher for calories, protein and all vitamins and minerals studied, with calcium showing the greatest gain in intakes by women--from 69% to 78% of the RDA.
Women’s average nutrient intakes in 1985 were above the RDA for eight nutrients: protein, Vitamin A, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, Vitamin B-12, ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) and phosphorus. Intakes below the RDA were for Vitamin B-6, folacin, Vitamin E, calcium, iron, magnesium and zinc. Even though intakes of certain vitamins and minerals were not up to par with the RDAs, they are not necessarily inadequate, because the RDAs are set above the needs of most people, according to Harris.
“Intakes increased for folacin, Vitamin B-6, magnesium and calcium, but not for zinc and iron within the high-income groups. The lack of increase for zinc and iron reflects, in part, the lower meat intake by high-, rather than low-income women in 1985--an interesting twist in the 1985 survey results,” Harris said.
Men, however, did not suffer shortages in iron or zinc because they ate more food (2,569 calories for men versus 1,660 calories for women) and because their RDA for vitamins and minerals are about the same or lower than the RDA for women.
Shift to Low-Fat Milk
Although calorie levels were as high or higher in 1985 than in 1977, a notable shift from higher calorie whole milk to lower calorie low-fat or skim milk did occur. Low-fat and skim milk intakes were higher in 1985 than in 1977 for all income groups, but the higher-income women led in the move toward low-fat milk-drinking. Low-income women consumed only about one-third of their fluid milk as low-fat or skim milk, whereas the high-income groups consumed two-thirds of their milk intake as low-fat or skim milk.
Women in the high-income bracket also drank more milk in 1985 than in 1977, whereas low-income women did not.
“Concern about osteoporosis, the bone-depleting disease of old age, probably had a great deal to do with the increase in milk drinking,” Harris said.
In 1977, women from the high-income households drank less fluid milk of all kinds than low-income women.
“This shift to low-fat or skim milk is in line with the U.S. guideline to avoid too much fat, saturated fat and cholesterol,” Harris said.
According to the most recent survey, fat in women’s diets provided 37% of the calories, with similar levels for children and men, but less than those levels reported in 1977. A little more than one-third of the fat calories (13% of total calories) were from saturated fat. Cholesterol intakes averaged about 300 milligrams per day for women and 440 milligrams per day for men. For men, the percentage of calories from fat was 36%, about the same as for women.
“An important factor in the lower percentage of energy from fat in 1985 is the relatively large increase in carbohydrate intake. While the mean fat intake by women decreased by 5% between 1977 and 1985, the carbohydrate intake increased by 20%. Protein intake was the same for both years, about 65 grams,” Harris explained.
The government recommendation to eat foods with adequate starch and fiber was heeded to a point. Women’s intakes of grain products were up almost one-third from 1977. Carbohydrate, from both starch and sugar, provided 46% of calories, up from 1977.
The recommendation by the Dietary Guidelines and American Cancer Society to increase complex carbohydrate and fiber in recent years probably is responsible for the increase in these elements. However, Harris stressed that knowledge about dietary fiber in foods is still incomplete and recommendations for the optimum amount to consume remain controversial.
“The 1985 survey provided the first national estimates of dietary fiber intakes, and they are considered to be tentative,” Harris said.
Intakes of fiber were estimated at 18 grams per day for men and 12 grams a day for women. On a calorie basis, they were about the same since seven grams of fiber represent 1,000 calories.
Advice Unheeded
The government’s recommendation to avoid too much sugar went unheeded, according to survey indications.
Intakes were up from 1977 for sugar-containing foods, especially for soft drinks.
Intake of regular soft drinks by women was up 28% since 1977 for women. Women’s mean intakes of carbonated soft drinks increased from 187 grams (about six ounces) per day in 1977 to 287 grams (about 10 ounces) in 1985.
Intake of diet drinks was greater for the higher-income populations. But regular soft drinks remain the favorite at all income brackets.
“One reason for the increase in consumption is that the can sizes are larger today than they were in 1977,” Harris said.
Recommendations to avoid consuming too much sodium were heeded by women but not by men, according to survey results. The mean intakes were in the range suggested by the Food and Nutrition Board as safe and adequate for women, but above it for men.
Intakes were 2,580 milligrams per day by women and about 3,640 milligrams per day by men. Safe and adequate ranges of sodium suggested by the Food and Nutrition Board are 1,100 to 3,300 milligrams per day for adults.
“The women’s intake also might exceed the safe level if we could have included salt added at the table in the estimates, but did not,” said Harris.
Increase in Snacking
Snacking, too, increased, making a substantial contribution to calorie intake overall. “In 1985, snacks provided 16% of the total intake of energy for women,” Harris said.
Harris reported that 76% of the women snacked in 1985, compared with 60% in 1977. Children’s snacking also was up over the eight-year period, from 62% to 83%.
The snacks, Harris pointed out, were more likely to be sweet and starchy than were other eating occasions.
Foods eaten away from home by women accounted for 22% of their food energy intake in 1977 and 28% in 1985.
The 1985 survey showed an increase of intake of vitamin-mineral supplements, about 58%, up from 39% in 1977 for women.
“There may be a concern that they may not be getting enough from food,” Harris said.
Harris pointed out that Americans on the average consume 14 to 15 items each day, compared with 30 to 40 items by Japanese. “The chances are higher of getting complete nutrition by eating a greater variety of foods,” Harris said .
The Dietary Guidelines also state that large doses of vitamin and mineral supplements should be avoided and that supplements of any kind are rarely needed if a varied diet is consumed.
A few exceptions are noted, however. Women of child-bearing age may need iron supplements. Pregnant and lactating women need amounts of several nutrients beyond what their usual diet may provide. Infants 4 months and older, especially those who only breast-feed, may need supplemental iron, either iron added to foods such as cereal or as supplements. Elderly individuals who use medication for treatment of disease also may need supplements because drug and nutrient interactions reduce absorption of some nutrients in the body, according to Harris.
